I walked into a church building for the first time in months. It was so strange to think about how much Covid-19 had changed. My friend was on the hospitality team, which meant she opened the door so that people didn’t have to touch the handle and she greeted them warmly from behind her mask. Smiling eyes have become a useful tool since the rest of our faces are masked. As my friend and her husband helped prepare for service to start, I sat in a cluster of three chairs that were distanced 6 feet away from every other cluster of chairs. Parents meandered into the room and gathered their children to sit with them. Some wore masks….some didn’t. Some wore masks out of fear….some wore masks out of love for others. Some protested mask-wearing due to overreaching governments or inconclusive data points….and others protested because of their own lung conditions, anxiety, trauma, and breathlessness that comes with traumatic memories being triggered. Some families meandered through the room greeting their friends and offering warm hugs. Others said hi hesitantly while still rubbing the hand sanitizer into their palms. As I sat there and observed the people I was struck with the sense that I was living in a reality I never would have imagined even 12 months ago.

 

Every time I hop onto Facebook to track the pulse of our nation, I end up sickened, frustrated, and angered by the amount of dissension, querulousness, and fear I see portrayed in each debate among friends. Each election season, of course, brings up its new set of arguments about the best way to lead this nation, but this time each voice has been exacerbated by a panicked sense that there are lives at stake this time. 

 

As we’ve trekked through 2020, a year no one saw coming but everyone has been affected by, I can’t help but think back through history. Though Covid-19 is new, pandemics and global crisis’ are not. I am a chronic romanticizer, though, as I think many writers of history may have been. When I think of the Great Depression, I think of strong women sewing sackcloth together to make lovely dresses for their daughters. When I think of the Underground Railroad, I think of courageous families that risked everything for freedom. When I think of World War 2, I think of brave soldiers writing letters home and holidays spent swing dancing with their wives. When I think of the Wild West, I think of pioneers and settlers that had the grit to fight treacherous weather and horrible conditions to make the west their home. When I think of disease and pandemics, I think of trained nurses and medics that had enough skill to save people despite only having a cot, some boiling water, and a few instruments. 

 

But when I look at the history being written today? I see something entirely different. I see a nation divided. I see shelves limiting one bag of flour per family. I see people tearing each other apart on social media. I see racial division. I see prideful people desperately clawing to stay in their comfort zone. I see sickness and death. I see violence, riots, protests, and looting. I see our people going to war with our own people. 

 

When I look back at history books of 2020, I’ll probably see the same romanticized stories I see of wars and pandemics from the past. I’ll see stories of the 90-year old who beat the coronavirus. I will see stories of people who made masks for their entire community or people who chose to shop at small businesses to keep them afloat. I’ll see stories of the scientists who researched to find a medication or a vaccine. I’ll see stories of the heroes in healthcare that worked long hours in bad conditions to save lives. I’ll see stories of people of all colors banding together to protest in peace. Maybe I’ll see these things because we don’t want to remember the bad parts, but I think more than that, we’ll see these stories because these are the stories that live on. When the bad attitudes and the fighting dies down, it’s the stories of grit and bravery and unity and resilience that we tell over and over again. Those are the things we want to live on.

 

But how? How do we get there? How do we hate what is evil and cling to what is good even in our own interactions with others? The Bible actually has a lot to say about this. Because as much as we hear about the great Roman empire in our history books, or learn Roman Mythology for fun…it’s the Jews and the Samaritans of the Bible who faced very similar circumstances as we do today. They faced a government that didn’t always work in their favor, racism and segregation between people groups, clashing religious and political beliefs, and taxes that almost made the family business go under. And something they saw constantly that we are also facing right now is fights and division between believers. So if we really take God’s Word seriously, this is what we are to do in times like these:

 

1. Be Humble

This might sound simple or unrelated, but this is what is needed most during this time. The reality is, YOU’RE WRONG. Did you feel the defenses go up when I said that? Were you willing to debate your points to the death? Are you a vaxer or an antivaxer? A masker or an anti-masker? Which political party do you identify with? 

 

The reality is: you’re wrong. If you are human, the chances that you are 100% right on 100% of the things you adamantly believe is 0%. Surviving 2020 depends on us all acknowledging this and embracing it with humility. 

 

If you’re not completely educated in a topic, preface your argument with “I haven’t done as much research as I’d like” or “Please correct me if I’m wrong”. Sometimes you might even have to say, “I don’t think I’m educated enough on the topic to speak on it.” 

 

If you’re doing your research on a topic, be humble enough to read articles from both sides of the issue or read statistics supporting different conclusions. If you’re using statistics to state your case, be humble enough to acknowledge the bias they carry. 

 

If Jesus was humble enough to lay his life down for people who were not only sinners but also completely wrong about who he was or why he should die….you can be humble enough to be more concerned about loving the wrong person than proving you’re right. 

 

And if we are all really striving to be known as people of humility, we should also be known as people willing to learn. The reality is that my life experience is very limited. I know what it’s like to be a healthy, able-bodied, young, light-skinned, average height, middle class, twenty-something millennial woman who has lived in the suburbs most of my life with a nuclear family that has a good social standing in our community. I know how the laws affect people like me. I know how a health crisis affects people like me. I know how the economy affects people like me. But I have no clue how it affects someone with a different lived experience until I ask. 

 

I can speed on the highway without being seen as a dangerous person, but for my black friend, that’s not always the case. I can re-enter society after the shelter in place and return to my normal life with few modifications, but my friend with cystic fibrosis cannot. I can find a job that will pay my bills fairly easily, but my friend who is disabled and is in too much pain to work cannot. Am I humble enough to acknowledge that my life experience is limited, and learn from people who are different than me? Are you? Are we willing to adjust our theological, political, or sociological beliefs as we learn? Are we willing to acknowledge that there are fewer non-negotiables than we think, and change the negotiables as we grow? 

 

2. Love Your Neighbor

Most Christians would say this is a pretty key truth in our faith. But what does it look like in times like these? 

 

For me, it looks like responding to Facebook comments with grace, always assuming that the person is my friend, not my enemy. I always choose to assume that they have a little bit of the information I’m missing and that I have something to learn from them even if I don’t fully agree.

 

For me, it looks like thinking about what I post before I post it. Will me posting a meme about the ridiculousness of masks hurt a friend who must wear a mask because her immune system likely wouldn’t fight COVID-19 effectively? Will me posting an article about how democrats are the antichrist hurt my dear brothers and sisters in Christ who are convicted to vote blue? 

 

For me, sometimes loving my neighbor means choosing to wear a mask. Yes, It’s uncomfortable in 90-degree heat. Yes, it makes my glasses fog up as I’m walking through the store. And depending on the articles I read, some people could be very persuasive in saying wearing masks is stupid. It would be easy to readily agree since it’s uncomfortable for me anyways. As someone who’s young and relatively healthy, I may not even be severely affected if I did get coronavirus. And of course, it’s not always very fun to submit to rules from a government I don’t always agree with and sometimes overreaches what I think they should have the ability to mandate. And yet….even in places I am not required to, I often wear a mask.

 

Why? To love my neighbor. No matter what the statistics say, I would so much rather wear a mask if there’s even a 1% chance of protecting grandma from catching something she can’t fight. And even if there’s no truly scientific reason to wear one (which I find hard to believe)…what if it could make my friend with anxiety feel safe and loved in my presence? What if wearing a mask could show my neighbor that I care more about his health than about my political stances? What if I made the Walmart employee’s day that much better because she’s already had to fight three nasty customers on following the store policy she can’t change anyway, and having me comply and thank her was a really good way to love her? 

 

Am I saying that loving your neighbor always has to mean wearing a mask? No. Consider it for sure. Pray about it, absolutely. But there are other very practical ways to love your neighbor in this time too. Although sometimes, I think it just starts with not making a big deal about things that aren’t a big deal in eternity. Whether it’s a mask, social distancing, going to a protest with your friend, having a bottle of hand sanitizer with you at church, or responding gracefully to your friend on Facebook…remember that these are all people Jesus loves and they are all just trying to do their best given these very strange circumstances. 

 

3. Consider your Weaker Brother

 

In 1 Corinthians 8, it talks about loving your weaker brother. In this case, it’s talking about meat sacrificed to idols. This was a relatively common practice and the early Christians had different convictions on the topic. Some said that the meat was just meat – it didn’t matter why or how it was killed. They would eat it with no conviction otherwise. Others, however, felt very convicted not to eat the meat because it had been sacrificed to idols and used in pagan worship. The church in Corinth was becoming quite divided on this issue. In this passage Paul says:

 

Now about food sacrificed to idols: We know that “We all possess knowledge.” But knowledge puffs up while love builds up. Those who think they know something do not yet know as they ought to know. But whoever loves God is known by God.

So then, about eating food sacrificed to idols: We know that “An idol is nothing at all in the world” and that “There is no God but one.” For even if there are so-called gods, whether in heaven or on earth (as indeed there are many “gods” and many “lords”), yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we live; and there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we live.

But not everyone possesses this knowledge. Some people are still so accustomed to idols that when they eat sacrificial food they think of it as having been sacrificed to a god, and since their conscience is weak, it is defiled. But food does not bring us near to God; we are no worse if we do not eat, and no better if we do.

Be careful, however, that the exercise of your rights does not become a stumbling block to the weak. For if someone with a weak conscience sees you, with all your knowledge, eating in an idol’s temple, won’t that person be emboldened to eat what is sacrificed to idols? So this weak brother or sister, for whom Christ died, is destroyed by your knowledge. When you sin against them in this way and wound their weak conscience, you sin against Christ. Therefore, if what I eat causes my brother or sister to fall into sin, I will never eat meat again, so that I will not cause them to fall. (Emphasis mine)

 

What this passage is saying is that it’s not worth it to exercise your freedom or God-given rights if it will cause someone who is convicted otherwise to ignore their conviction. What this tells us is that there are many more gray areas than we like to admit. Wearing a mask? Gray area. How to comply or rebel against certain state or national mandates? Gray area. How to vote? Gray area. Which party to vote for? (Some of you might hate me for saying this, but you guessed it:) Gray area. 

Do you have freedom? Yes. Do you have rights? Yes. But there are a few things to consider. Does an American freedom directly contradict a Biblical principle? Will fighting for your rights be loving to your neighbor? How many times do you see the early church fight for their rights, and which rights did they consider worth fighting for in which circumstances? Being American does not always translate well into also being a Christian. The Bible says that we are aliens to this world. This is not our home. So the things we should prioritize most highly are the things that matter in eternity. And I don’t mean only our spiritual natures. Matter matters. God made us with physical bodies to care for and a physical world to steward. So we should care about the health and well being of our neighbors just as much as we care which church they attend. Which mayor we elect in office? That’s one of the things that matters in as much as we can care for our weaker brother by who we elect. 

And apart from this discussion on gray areas and freedoms, this passage also tells us that conviction is important. James 4:17 says, “Therefore, to the one who knows the right thing to do and does not do it, to him it is sin.” If I am convicted and I ignore that conviction, I’m sinning. If my brother is convicted about something I’m not convicted about and I encourage him to ignore that conviction…I am leading him into sin.

This is a serious business that Paul warns against. And as I’ve seen the debate about masks get more and more heated, this is the passage that continually comes to mind. If a masker is convicted to wear a mask and an anti-masker firmly encourages them to ignore that…Do you see where I’m going with this? Of course, it goes both ways. But in this passage, it is the people that are freer or feel less conviction against a certain action that Paul is warning. As Christians, we should be able to live in our freedom without condemning anyone else for listening to their conviction. And if we have to choose between the two, Paul says your freedom is not worth fighting for at the expense of your brother or sister. 

 

4. Do not be motivated by fear

 

There’s a whole lot more I could say on these topics. I’m sure the way I’ve applied these passages has given you a glimpse into where I fall on some of these issues. I wear a mask. I value relationships over politics. I think I have a lot to learn from people of color and in fact, I was just reflecting last night on how much I have learned in the past couple of months because people were courageous enough to add their voices to a discussion that is notoriously heated and sometimes divisive. I have been challenged to grow in my humility, let go of my ignorance, be courageous in asserting my voice where truth needed to be spoken, and always, always fight to pull the Church into greater unity through each new 2020 crisis. 

Maybe you disagree with things I’ve said here. That’s okay. There is room for gray areas here. In fact, as I’ve grown up and as God has pulled my black and white pharisaical glasses off, I’ve found myself increasingly enjoying sitting in the tension of grays. It’s grays that cause us to grow. It’s grays that cause us to shift our perspectives and value love and unity more than being right or wrong. It’s the gray areas that push me to seek the Spirit the most. 

So don’t let the grays cause you to fear. And don’t let yourself make your conviction on a gray area turn into black and white thinking when that will divide or harm another. Don’t share things on social media that promote fear. Don’t complain about things in a way that makes your neighbor fear.

The world fears. But that’s not what we do. We trust in a God who is bigger than the grays. We serve a God who paints in full color. He’s big enough to carry us through health pandemics and civil wars and election seasons. The world has always carried with it crisis. It’s always groaned with the pains of childbirth, as Romans says, facing the reality that sin and death have been already defeated, but not yet abolished. As we weep over every monstrous loss or division or death 2020 has brought, God weeps with us. 

But we know, this is not the end. Even if somehow 2020 brings the end of the world…or worse, the end of our comfort zone, we have a hope that’s bigger than our circumstances to cling to. We have the same hope that carried Jesus through crucifixion, Paul through shipwreck, and America through every past crisis. We know who wins. It’s not sickness. It’s not death. It’s not the republicans or the democrats. It’s not the microchip or the antichrist. It’s not global warming or forest fires or locusts or murder hornets. It is Jesus Christ our King, the name above all names, at which every knee shall bow on the earth and under the earth and above the earth…and every tongue confess that He is Lord to the glory of God the Father. (Phil. 2:11)

There’s a lot to fear this year. There’s a lot of new things to fear that I hadn’t trained myself for. And I messed up a lot when this whole thing started…I still do when I look at the latest news articles. It’s easy to take my eyes off my savior and look at the storm that’s sure to kill us all. But the Bible tells us what to do. It tells us where we should be looking: “Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.”

THAT is how we face 2020.

TOGETHER.

Gently looking each other in the eyes with the same love and grace Christ has for us, and graciously turning each other’s eyes back to him. 

I know who I’m looking to this year and every year after. What about you?

 

 

 

 

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